Students' protest at Christ University over teacher's dismissal

Deepika Burli | Updated: Aug 3, 2016, 20:09 IST

BENGALURU: First, a student criticised the management for keeping the campus open during the transport strike last week, through the blog, “Dear Christ University, I cannot fly”. Following this, another blog went viral across social media on July 30 when 250 students of Christ University, Bannerghatta road campus, dressed in Black, occupied the campus’ quadrangle, “as an expression of solidarity, and protest against the disparity in the system between the main campus and here.”The post, titled, “The story of a united student body” blamed the management for expelling an Economics Professor, “Who felt deeply about the problems students are facing besides the difficulties during strikes, and raised his voice against the system and asked questions,” (quoted from blog post).

Expressing concern over what went down at the Bannerghatta Road campus, Fr Abraham, Pro Vice Chancellor, Christ University told TOI, “Class teachers are supposed to bridge the gap between the institute’s ideology and students. But unfortunately these students were instigated. We are not for unions and protests but for academic excellence and discipline which we need to uphold.”He added, “As far as the college remaining open during the strike is concerned, all faculty members across departments and deaneries were instructed to exempt students who could genuinely not make it to the campus due to their dependence on public transport. It is also important to note that despite the transport strike, 90% of the students had made it to the campus. So where is the question of injustice being done to any student? While the power of social media is great, these misconeptions that students have can spread like wildfire. They must first sort it out with the management.”